novelhk Chapter 147: Food Offering
Chapter 147: Food Offering
The butler's voice was loud outside the study door.
The people in the study heard it clearly.
When the King heard the word "donate grain", he sat up in surprise and said, "Who wants to donate grain? Steward, come in and answer!"
The person who had just reported the situation to King Ming disappeared, as if he had never appeared.
"Your Highness," the butler took a deep breath, panting, his voice intermittent, "Your Highness, there are people outside offering food!"
"Are you serious? Do you know who wants to donate grain and money?" King Ming suppressed his excitement, his face remained calm, and he pretended to be calm.
"There are hundreds of carriages just outside the palace. If you don't believe me, go and have a look." In front of King Ming, the butler did not dare to exaggerate.
The wise king looks down upon lust and is not keen on power, but that is only for external purposes.
They have been the confidants of the King Ming for many years, and they know their own king's temperament very well.
The prince has ambitions to dominate.
After the butler finished his report, Prince Ming strode out of the study without waiting for him to continue speaking.
The butler had to jog to catch up with King Ming's pace.
Jiang is the national surname. People of the Jiang family have graceful appearances. All the men of the Jiang family have long legs, among whom Ming Wang has the most graceful appearance.
When they were still in the capital and had not yet been enfeoffed, Prince Ming and Prince Li were the most sought-after.
Prince Ming was the most handsome, and Prince Li was the most favored.
There is no shortage of girls from prominent families pursuing both of them, some for their looks, some for their fame and fortune.
Princess Ming is the former.
Princess Ming came from a prominent family and her ancestral home was in the capital.
She followed King Ming to Mingzhou City to be established as a fiefdom because she was attracted by King Ming's appearance and fell in love with him at first sight.
She refused to listen to her family's repeated attempts to dissuade her and insisted on marrying into the Ming Palace.
The former nobles from aristocratic families lost the glory of their family and also lost their interest in the eyes of King Ming.
However, in the Prince Ming's palace, although the Prince Ming liked beautiful women, he never thought of favoring his concubine over his wife.
It was only after Princess Ming married into the palace that she learned of Prince Ming’s secret: he liked Nalan Huimin, the former Princess Xian.
Because of this incident, their relationship reached a freezing point.
King Ming allowed Princess Ming to go crazy. At first, Princess Ming still cared about it, but after a few years, Princess Ming would sometimes take the initiative to collect beauties for King Ming.
There was a easing of tension between the two.
In recent years, Princess Ming has given birth to legitimate sons and daughters one after another. She has turned her attention to her children and does not care much about the affairs of Prince Ming's concubines.
Princess Ming made a scene a few days ago because the owner moved into Lanyuan.
The two quarreled again and finally parted on bad terms.
Princess Ming listened to her wet nurse's advice and came here to ease the relationship with Prince Ming.
She was a step late and happened to see King Ming hurriedly leaving the palace.
After the people around her had asked clearly, Princess Ming followed her out.
The soldiers of the Ming Palace had already cleared some of the pedestrians on both sides of the convoy, but unfortunately some people who loved to watch the fun were still reluctant to leave, and in the end more and more people gathered.
When King Ming saw the endless convoy, he tried hard to suppress the smile on his face and his heart was filled with joy.
Mingzhou also suffered from the disaster, but it was not as serious as that in the south.
In addition, Mingzhou is mountainous and has less arable land than the other princes, so not many refugees choose to settle here.
Because Mingzhou is mountainous, they are extremely short of food when drought strikes.
The reason why we cooperated with Prince Li before was because we were attracted by the rich resources in Lingzhou.
However, the Emperor also attached great importance to Lingzhou, so they formed an alliance to drag the King of Yan into the water.
Unfortunately, he did not gain much benefit, and King Ming got into trouble with the emperor.
The relationship between King Ming and King Li was no longer the same as before, and a rift appeared between them.
This batch of food arrived just in time.
Ming Wang looked at the convoy with half-closed eyes and put his hands in front of his eyes to block the sunlight.
The corners of his lips curled up slightly, showing that he was in a good mood at the moment.
"Your Highness, you'd better be careful! There are constant disasters in various places, and there is a shortage of food. Your intention is unclear if you are making a big show of donating grain at this time!"
Princess Ming appeared beside King Ming and said something that poured a bucket of cold water on him.
She was brought up as a lady of an aristocratic family, so her perspective was naturally different from that of ordinary women in the inner chambers.
Prince Ming looked down at her and put away his smile, "That's what the princess reminded me of!"
In his heart, he looked up to Princess Ming and was indeed overwhelmed by this unexpected gift.
If this batch of grain arrives at his warehouse, it will solve many problems.
If you really want to take the throne, this batch of food can feed a lot of soldiers.
Ming Wang's eyes were fixed on the food, not moving for a moment.
After the people who donated the grain entered the city, they did not make it public. Even when the people asked about it, they would guide them to the Ming King.
When the people learned that this batch of grain was obtained by the King from other places to alleviate famine, more and more people gathered.
Their eyes were all focused on the grain carts, not daring to blink at all.
"Brother, Master Zhu said before that we would run away after we get to the door, and someone would pick us up. Now there are so many people, can we run away safely?"
The person called Big Brother is the leader of this mission. Like Changhe and others, he is also Jiang Zhu's confidant named Changtong.
Along the way, Chang Tong had been practicing how to stir up trouble when he arrived in Mingzhou City. After entering Mingzhou City, he had already discovered some suspicious people.
There were two groups of people with unknown purposes who were observing secretly.
This grain donation was so grand that it has already brought out many people hiding in the dark.
Prince Li's men were the easiest to identify. The leader had a scholarly air, and was followed by a few martial artists. They were wearing the same clothing as the people in Mingzhou City.
Changtong recognized their difference at a glance.
Mingzhou City has sufficient sunlight all year round, and the skin color of the people in Mingzhou City is darker.
Those people had fair skin and wore big shoes that didn't fit in with the city of Mingzhou. It was hard not to arouse suspicion.
Mingzhou has many mountains and rivers, and the people there are generally short, so their shoes are also small.
The situation in Lianzhou is different.
Lianzhou is located in the north, and the people there are all tall and their feet are much bigger than those here.
These people obviously ignored this and just changed their clothes.
Changtong saw them and decided to change his strategy.
The previous plan was for them to pretend to be members of the Wei family and come for surrender, and this batch of food was their sincerity.
King Youli's people are here, so it would be better for them to change their identities. It's a risky move, but if it works, Prince Zhu won't blame them.
After figuring this out, Changtong made a decision.
He stopped five meters away from King Ming and knelt down to salute, "Your Majesty, I have fulfilled your mission and brought back the food for Lingzhou City."
Ming Wang's computer crashed. He heard every word clearly about the food in Lingzhou City, but he couldn't understand them when they were put together.
"Food from Lingzhou City?"
"Yes, it is the grain you obtained from the Wei family. Have you forgotten? You said that this grain will be distributed to the people in Mingzhou."
"This is only a small part of it! The rest of the subordinates are short of manpower, so they are just hidden in a safe place. Please send some more people to help the subordinates transport them back."
Changtong was quick-witted and dug several holes in a short time.
Ming Wang was stunned on the spot, with no reaction at all, and only muttered quietly, "And this is only a small part!"
"My lord, be careful!"
A cold light flashed and a red line spurted out.